Menem, Carlos (1930–)

Carlos Saúl Menem, born in 1930, was the president of Argentina in two consecutive periods from 1989 to 1999. He is renowned for successful image management within the mass media. His showmanship in front of the cameras contributed to political debate becoming a form of entertainment television and began a trivialization of politics. Under Menem's administration, a reform of broadcasting law allowed the institution of multimedia conglomerates. The liberalization of the media market and subsequent concentration in few conglomerates considerably modified the Argentinean media system.

Menem was a Peronist governor of his home province, La Rioja, from 1973 to 1976, when the military coup d'état imprisoned him until 1981. In 1983 he was elected governor of La Rioja for a new term. By running for the presidency in 1989, Menem carried out a populist and demagogic campaign, featuring successful marketing and spectacular public appearances. He promised enormous transformations that seduced the Argentinean electorate. Upon his renomination in 1995, Menem guaranteed to maintain the economy that at those times had approval of many citizens, who took advantage of the exchange rate and the easy credit.

Menem introduced reforms that moved away from historical principles of his party. He carried out a constitutional reform in 1994 and conducted a neoliberal state reform. His economic policies are controversial issues in Argentinean recent history. On the one hand, he succeeded in eliminating hyperinflation—a heritage of preceding president Raúl Alfonsín—and achieved stability by setting the Argentine peso 1 to 1 with the American dollar. On the other hand, Menem introduced liberalization and privatization programs, which increased unemployment and progressively enhanced the distribution gap within the population. His administration coincided with a new wave of market openings in Latin America. Menem's foreign policy was designed for a close alliance with the United States. Therefore, through the media he made society believe that Argentina had been incorporated to the First World.

Menem's relationships with the media were diverse. His flamboyant image and his social life with celebrities attracted the attention of popular mass media. The multimedia conglomerate benefited from his liberalization policies. Investigative journalism made subjects of Menem's autocratic and populist style as well as his involvement in scandals. His government was charged with various kinds of corruption that have had serious consequences for the economics and the institutional system in Argentina. Menem is suspected of having illegal funds outside Argentina, and the investigation of a weapons export scandal resulted in a 5-month house arrest in 2001. Despite judicial procedures and a resignation to second round by 2003's [Page 451]presidential election, he remains active in the Argentinean political arena.